I'm caught up in the blog family spirit after reading the recent round of posts. So in that spirit, I will 1) quit blagging, and 2) resume my role as resident pessimist.
Most of y'all are science nuts, so you may have heard about the recent earthquakes in Yellowstone. If you haven't, well, it's probably better. All those neat geysers and hot springs are geothermal, of course. And geothermal means heat. And heat means magma. And magma, when it blows out in a big way, means calderas. Yellowstone caldera was formed from a volcanic eruption and is roughly 34 x 45 miles. That's a heap 'o magma. When you see that much, you're going to have a very bad day. Don't trust me on this, trust the Discovery Channel:
the Yellowstone eruption of 2.1 million years ago, which is described on the VEI as an eight: mega-colossal, with a towering ash cloud 10 miles high that pours out at least a thousand cubic miles of ash. That Yellowstone eruption had 10 times the ejected material as a VEI 7 volcano, which modern humans have never seen either.In fact, the last VEI 7 eruption was in Toba, Indonesia, 74,000 years ago, and it caused such global cooling that some scientists think it nearly drove humans to extinction.
On the other hand, it might just be some water moving around, or a little seismic hiccup, and some other poor schmucks will have to endure global extinction. Happy news for us! I can take a drink, and we can go on with planning game night.
5 comments:
Wow. That is pretty intense to think about that kind of volcanic eruption. It would pretty much put that state out of business.
There was a Discovery Channel movie that came out about two years ago that was exactly about the Yellowstone caldera and the impact a mega volcanic eruption would have. Needless to say, it was somewhat apocalyptic. And not just for the states around it, but for the entire continent of North America.
But until that happens...life is good! :)
It is scary to think about all of the volcanic potential in the U.S. I always think Portland would be a nice place to live except for that. Oh well, I guess everyone has to put up with something.
I saw the same special Cheryl did. Donna, if Yellowstone goes apesh!t, it'll make no difference if you live in Portland, Atlanta, or Tierra del Fuego. Like I said, kiss your @&$ goodbye.
I think History International or one of those egghead channels is having Armageddon week. Tune in to watch all the possible disasters. You don't want to miss the Astrophysicist who makes being sucked into a black hole sound like a really cool experience.
I don't want it to blow, but the power that is so close beneath your feet in Yellowstone makes it...magical? surreal? feel so much bigger than human scale? One of my favorite experiences was a ranger-led hike to STANDING petrified trees. The TIME represented by the creation of those trees. It made it all feel so primeval.
Can you imagine sitting there - waiting for one of the geysers blow - and then feeling the shaking beneath the earth right before the Big Blow? What a way to go!
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